Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This reminds me of a study asking people if leaving a child alone at home for a couple of hours was moral and whether it was safe, varying the circumstances.

Obviously many more people thought it was more morally acceptable to leave them alone if a single parent had to work, or in an emergency, etc., than if the parent was going off on a non-essential errand or to meet a lover. But what was interesting was that they also rated the child left alone in more morally acceptable circumstances as *safer*.

A 6-year-old home alone for 2 hours is just as safe or unsafe if the parent leaves for work as if they leave to get a pedicure. But people considering the former admit to themselves the child will probably be okay, if it's really necessary. And in the latter, they think of all the dangerous things the kid can get into when left alone "for no good reason."

But, like... they're all as safe or unsafe as any other kid at home for the same length of time, all else being equal.

It's the same for this. A kid getting 4 hours of screen time because the parent feels like watching their own program on Netflix in another room is getting the same effect from screen time as if the parent has critical work to do in the other room. Some people in the work situation with the pandemic decide that, hey, actually 4 hours is fine and has always been fine under any circumstance, they were just too uptight before. Some people think, actually, it's always kind of unhealthy, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and hopefully this is temporary.

But to think it's unhealthy in one circumstance and not the other (assuming the period of weeks or months is equal)... that may feel right intuitively, but is an illusion.

oh ffs. the reason matters because a family is a system, and there is no good evidence on screen time. all this shows is that supposed guidelines are based more on judging moms and less on what a family actually needs.

The reason matters for the overall health and needs of the family.

It doesn't really matter in terms of the effects of screen time themselves.

That's whether or not you think there are negative or positive effects or none at all.

That was really my only point.

If-- big if!-- but if there are negative effects on attention span or tantrum-like behavior or eyesight, or positive effects on problem-solving skills or hand-eye coordination, or whatever... it doesn't matter for those purposes why your child is using screens 4 hours a day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This reminds me of a study asking people if leaving a child alone at home for a couple of hours was moral and whether it was safe, varying the circumstances.

Obviously many more people thought it was more morally acceptable to leave them alone if a single parent had to work, or in an emergency, etc., than if the parent was going off on a non-essential errand or to meet a lover. But what was interesting was that they also rated the child left alone in more morally acceptable circumstances as *safer*.

A 6-year-old home alone for 2 hours is just as safe or unsafe if the parent leaves for work as if they leave to get a pedicure. But people considering the former admit to themselves the child will probably be okay, if it's really necessary. And in the latter, they think of all the dangerous things the kid can get into when left alone "for no good reason."

But, like... they're all as safe or unsafe as any other kid at home for the same length of time, all else being equal.

It's the same for this. A kid getting 4 hours of screen time because the parent feels like watching their own program on Netflix in another room is getting the same effect from screen time as if the parent has critical work to do in the other room. Some people in the work situation with the pandemic decide that, hey, actually 4 hours is fine and has always been fine under any circumstance, they were just too uptight before. Some people think, actually, it's always kind of unhealthy, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and hopefully this is temporary.

But to think it's unhealthy in one circumstance and not the other (assuming the period of weeks or months is equal)... that may feel right intuitively, but is an illusion.

oh ffs. the reason matters because a family is a system, and there is no good evidence on screen time. all this shows is that supposed guidelines are based more on judging moms and less on what a family actually needs.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the 70s and definitely watched this much TV. Every day I watched Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo and Electric Company. Sometimes two episodes of Sesame St, ad they aired it tiwce per day with different episodes. Then I usually watched stuff in the evenings with my parents, sometimes stuff like Little House or Muppets or Lawrence Welk but often stuff like MASH. My mom did shift work so was often gone weird hours. We couldn’t afford preschool or babysitters.
I went to Yale (no hooks, no legacy, just grades), so it could not have rotted my brain that much.
I think what they are watching matters.
The truth is that with 14 hours in the day and no play dates or school, that’s a lot of time to fill. Four hours of pbskids still leaves 10 hours for creative play, reading, etc.

Anonymous wrote:This reminds me of a study asking people if leaving a child alone at home for a couple of hours was moral and whether it was safe, varying the circumstances.

Obviously many more people thought it was more morally acceptable to leave them alone if a single parent had to work, or in an emergency, etc., than if the parent was going off on a non-essential errand or to meet a lover. But what was interesting was that they also rated the child left alone in more morally acceptable circumstances as *safer*.

A 6-year-old home alone for 2 hours is just as safe or unsafe if the parent leaves for work as if they leave to get a pedicure. But people considering the former admit to themselves the child will probably be okay, if it's really necessary. And in the latter, they think of all the dangerous things the kid can get into when left alone "for no good reason."

But, like... they're all as safe or unsafe as any other kid at home for the same length of time, all else being equal.

It's the same for this. A kid getting 4 hours of screen time because the parent feels like watching their own program on Netflix in another room is getting the same effect from screen time as if the parent has critical work to do in the other room. Some people in the work situation with the pandemic decide that, hey, actually 4 hours is fine and has always been fine under any circumstance, they were just too uptight before. Some people think, actually, it's always kind of unhealthy, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and hopefully this is temporary.

But to think it's unhealthy in one circumstance and not the other (assuming the period of weeks or months is equal)... that may feel right intuitively, but is an illusion.